This policy brief aims to inform policy and current practices governing land expropriation in Rwanda drawing on recent research carried out by the LAND Project. The brief elaborates on the legal framework and procedures guiding expropriation and on reported practice based on information gathered from primary and secondary sources. It then proposes measures that would potentially strengthen implementation of expropriation exercises countrywide.

This background briefing reports on a study of land access for returnees in Rwanda, and the impacts of land access policies in the post-conflict period. It also seeks to understand better the roles international humanitarian agencies and NGOs have played, and how their performance can be improved. It is not suggested that Rwanda is typical, but rather that the centrality of land issues there has thrown up a revealing set of broader questions.

This Policy Brief summarizes the main findings and recommendations of qualitative and quantative research on implementation and outcomes of the 2007 Expropriation Law in Rwanda. Rwanda is developing at a remarkably rapid pace, and with that development has come a multitude of corresponding changes to the orientation and use of land throughout the country.

To accommodate the needs of hundreds of thousands of returnees after war and fgenocide in 1994, the new Rwandan Government launched a settlement programme, Imidugudu. Since early 1997, this programme has targeted the entire rural population: all scattered households in the country had to be regrouped in villages. What started as a response to an emergency turned into an ambitious but controversial development programme. The programme has been implemented with support from international organizations, including UNHCR and numerous NGOs.

Rwanda is developing at a remarkably rapid pace, and with that development has come a multitude of corresponding changes to the orientation and use of land throughout the country. In light of these changes, law n°18/2007 of 19/04/2007 relating to expropriation in the public interest was adopted to provide clear procedures for the government to follow in the taking of privately-owned land for other uses deemed to be in the public interest.

Alternatives to Eviction: Scenarios for Access to Land by the Urban Poor in Informal Settlements, Kenya

Alternatives to Eviction: Scenarios for Access to Land by the Urban Poor in Informal Settlements, Kenya

The development plan of the Federal
Government of Ethiopia emphasized low-cost energy supply as
a prerequisite to the enhancement of industrial and economic
development for the period 1984-1993. Current power planning
studies have estimated Ethiopia's hydropower potential
at 30,000 MW, which greatly exceeds foreseeable domestic
demands. Presently, only 1 percent of the potential is
utilized. The government has therefore initiated the

The Ghazi-Barotha Hydropower Project is
a major run-of-river power project designed to meet the
acute shortage of power in Pakistan. It is being implemented
by the Water and Power Development Authority of Pakistan
(WAPDA). The project consists of a barrage located near
Ghazi village in the North West Frontier Province, a 52 km
long concrete lined power channel and a power complex
located near Barotha village in the province of Punjab. It

This paper examines the channels through
which alternative property rights institutions affect
investment. These institutions are defined by a
society's enforced laws, regulations, governance
mechanisms and norms concerning the use of resources. A
transaction cost framework is used to analyze the incentive
impact of various types of property rights, liability rules,
and rules regarding contracts. This framework is used to

This handbook intends to document the
essential steps for best practice in the design, and
implementation of resettlement action plans. Given that
involuntary resettlement entails both the physical
displacement of peoples, and the disruption of their
livelihoods, social development specialists at the
International Finance Corporation (IFC), worked together
with project developers to ensure consistent, and pragmatic

The book clarifies many policy, and
technical issues that confront resettlement policymakers,
and practitioners. It provides guidance on resettlement
design, implementation, and monitoring, and, it discusses
resettlement issues particular to development projects in
different sectors, such as urban development, natural
resource management, and the building of dams. Construction
of infrastructure, a prerequisite for sustained